They're not bad. I'm not mad at that. But I'm feeling like everything I do is so ... samey. And I get it, it's all my face, there's not much I can do about that.

Jen Watson (@jenwatsonart) • Instagram photos and vi...

We got about 300+ shots of me as Sylvie this weekend and that's besides the pro photogs from the meetup. Like that's just the stuff Scott took. (Meanwhile I do think he could be like, A Cosplay Photographer, he's good at what he does, but that's not the point)

And I'm looking through them and I just... it doesn't feel right? They don't feel right. It feels like me in a crown. It's not ... in character. And maybe the problem is that it's Scott taking the pictures, because he likes me, and. He's directing me as a model but not as an actor. Maybe.

I just want something else to do with my face. I don't know how to do that just ... off the cuff.

And the stuff I've posted on IG so far just feels. Very a lot of the same thing. I want to change it up. I want to make things more exciting and engaging. Not just "well, here's my face!"

I don't know if its any easier with other characters.

... maybe I need to be less aware of the camera.

maybe I need a sword. or someone to fight.

I think you look great!

A lot of it really does come down to a photographer's style tho

dontyousonicme: thanks! I suppose that makes sense though. I'm usually shooting with either Scott or another local photog who, to be fair, is amazing. This weekend there were a bunch I didn't get to shoot with before and I'm eager to see how they turn out.

*Amazing but it winds up looking very much the same, a lot of the time, I mean. Like. Regardless of the character.

I don't think they look super-samey, but I can only scroll back so far XD and I know it's different when it's not my face, haha.

some of it could be because a lot of them have similar hairstyles, maybe?

like sylvie/carol/nat at least, all have short hair and no bangs

so maybe it's also just how that haircut frames your face, even when/if the hair is different? but yeah, some of it could also be the way the shots are being set up, but we all know I have no artistic eye so I could not say for sure XD

antipositional: Maybe. Idk. I mean I use my own hair for both Carol and Sylvie. And yeah Nat is just a different color.

yeah, so maybe just how that general style looks, it's not super different for those three, who you are a lot these days and wanda, too, even if her hair is longer.

I mean, not that you can change how a character wears their hair

but like it took me a minute to pick you out of the harley lineup, and maybe it's just because hair/makeup was different that time?

antipositional: I could get a different wig for Nat, or at least style it differently - It's the Civil War suit, and the wig is more AoU? Not that it makes much difference, it's still clear who I'm supposed to be

yeah, that's an option! just to change it up sometimes

Some of it might be my own taste, too. Like I am more inclined to post something with a more neutral expression. And I just. Don't know what to do a lot of the time.

A lot of yesterday was asking a photographer if they're free and them saying something along the lines of "Sure, what kind of shots do you want?" and I'm like. ...? I don't know please direct me.

I feel like this is a thing cosplayers might make videos about on youtube?

or even actors, maybe there are some tutorials on posing or something?

I definitely never know what to do XD

(The way these work is basically just, like, a bunch of cosplayers and a handful of free roaming photographers in the area, and folks hanging out or shooting - you don't need to be a pro anything and can get practice doing either thing)

Yeah. I've watched a lot of posing tutorials. Both for cosplayers and for model-models. They're out there, and they have helped a lot.

gotcha, yeah. that seemed like a thing people would make!

maybe it just comes down to practice, too. like, in front of a mirror or with your camera on auto or whatever

Yeah. And... honestly, it's just hard. Sometimes it comes easily to me but not always, and like anything that sometimes or even often comes easily, you forget how hard it actually can be.

"But you just have to stand there!" No, you don't. It's physical work and I have to be aware of what my body and face and costume are all doing, where the camera is, what the light is doing. And I want to be Very In Character on top of that.

Sometimes it does feel like I am just standing there though, especially looking at pics. Idk. I just want to be good. And I'm moping, I know. This will pass.

< not being aware of what my costume is doing haha

like I love the meta of that shot, the angle, the "oh nothing, just messing with the X-Men again" of it, but my crown is slipping because it's so heavy and idk how tf to secure it (elastic cord is not the way, it tangles in my wig very badly)

I tell my photographer to just physically mush my face into the expression she wants sometimes

because sometimes I think I look cool and I just look like a dork

dontyousonicme: lmao I think I could try that with Scott but maybe not a perfect stranger

oh yeah I wouldn't do that with just anyone

But he's the one who mostly wants me to look like me and I'm like. Dude

but it's really nice that I have that friendship with someone I trust who can just physically pose me

Not Being Me is kind of the point right now

... Makeup is probably part of it too. I try to do different stuff with makeup, colors, sculpting, I want to try doing lookalike makeup, but unless it's extreme (e.g. Harley or Frost) it doesn't always actually seem that different.

.... well would you look at that